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Ridley Helium CR1 Road Bike - 2014

It takes a lot to own the mountains. A rider needs to have fitness, experience, and a willingness to suffer. But one thing that should never be overlooked is the bike. Having a lightweight and stiff bike can help you float up the mountains and let you own the competition.

The Ridley Helium is the ultimate race machine for mountain goats, KOM hunters, and those just looking for a performance edge you can only get from Ridley. While normally known for their classics and sprinting bikes like the Noah and Fenix, the Helium is their lightweight model that was designed to help the riders of the Pro Tour Lotto-Belisol team dominate the competition. The Helium, as the name implies, is one of the lightest production framesets available. Try one, and you'll see the difference it makes.

The Ridley Helium is a lightweight frame made from 24-ton* high modulus, unidirectional carbon fiber. For the highest strength-to-weight ratio possible, the carbon tubes are a circular shape that gradually transitions to a square, allowing the bike to be stiff and responsive, while using far less material than other bikes. This makes the bike lighter and faster than the competition. In fact, the bike is so stiff that Ridley had to sculpt the seatstays to be ultra-thin, allowing them to act like springs and offer comfort-enhancing vertical compliance for those times when the road is less than smooth.

The Helium frame also features internal derailleur cable routing, and for all the right reasons. Internal cable routing not only keeps the lines of the bike cleaner and makes the frame more aerodynamic, but it also cuts down on cable slap and fouling--essential for enhanced performance. It also helps keep the cables from wearing out prematurely, and keeps them cleaner for smoother, more precise shifting and braking in any weather conditions. Additionally, a PF30 bottom bracket and oversized, tapered headtube enhance frame stiffness. The PF30 bottom bracket allows the use of a crankset with a shorter, beefier spindle for less flex and improved power transmission. The bottom bracket shell is also burlier, which means that the frame is stiffer, so more watts go into forward movement, and less into frame flex. The tapered headtube enables the frame to be stiffer for improved handling and control on even the roughest terrain.

The full monocoque carbon fiber fork features a tighter rake that gives the bike the ability to dive into turns, making descending feel smoother and more confident. The carbon fiber arms and steerer help absorb road vibrations and smooth out the ride.

The Ultegra 6800 components are more than just an 11-speed evolution of Ultegra 6700. The new Ultegra features newly redesigned ergonomic hood and lever shapes that draw inspiration directly from the company's superlative Di2 systems. The result is a more comfortable lever that requires less force to execute a shift, thanks to decreased cable friction and improved housing. Ultegra 6800 also features a fundamental redesign of the front derailleur, with a longer lever arm for more effective and precise front shifts. The rear derailleur has also been redesigned to be lighter and more responsive, making shifting across the entire cassette feel easy and snappy, with no chain rubbing or hesitation. And, of course, there is the revolutionary new 4-arm design crankset. The new Shimano design is a fundamental rethink of how forces are distributed across the crankset spider. The result is a stiffer crankset, stiff rings, and--most importantly--one BCD measurement for all chainring sizes, so you no longer have to choose between race or compact.

Rounding out this impressive package is a build kit from Ridley's own 4Za brand. 4Za is in many ways unlike some other company's house brand component arms. Ridley engineers every 4Za component to integrate seamlessly with their bikes at a basic level, ensuring optimized performance at every level. The bike rolls on a set of lightweight Fulcrum Racing Quattro clinchers, which spin up quickly, climb like they mean it, and deliver superb braking performance.

Features:

Developed with input from pro Lotto-Belisol riders to create a superlight climbing machine for Grand Tours